It was raining on race days but it stopped before the race, although the track was still wet and so the cars started on wet tires. Villeneuve made the best start and took the lead from Jones, Reutemann, Laffite and Jabouille. Laffite and Reutemann both went off early on and so Regazzoni was able to take third place ahead of Scheckter. Both men later pitted for slicks and so Jabouille moved to third again but his engine failed and so the place went to Arnoux. On lap 31 Villeneuve pitted and Jones led but when the Australian went into the pits to get slicks the stop went wrong and a wheel came off after he had rejoined. This left Villeneuve with a commanding lead over Arnoux. Pironi was third with Elio de Angelis fourth for Shadow, Hans Stuck fifth in the ATS and John Watson sixth for McLaren.